Turbine Unveils
The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, a new expansion for the
Lord of the Rings Online due this fall. The add-on will raise the level cap
in the MMORPG, add a new region, and introduce skirmishes: "a new system where
players will train customizable soldiers and take them into battle as part of
the War of the Ring." A teaser website
is online, and here's the feature list:

The Epic Conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria™ – Under the command of
Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs
alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur,
the fortress of the Ringwraiths. This update includes Book 9 and the
Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the award-winning Mines of
Moria expansion.

Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up
to level 65, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.

Answer the Call of War! – Jump into the heat of battle with the new
Skirmishes feature. Skirmishes offer endless action in repeatable,
randomized instances where players can create and lead customizable soldiers
into battle, training them to greater skill as they earn victories against
the forces of shadow. Answer the call of war wherever violence erupts with
the new “World Join” function that lets players and their fellowships band
together to fight in various locations throughout Middle-earth.

Take up Arms! – Infiltrate the dark jails, deadly arenas and savage
stables of Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths, and strike a blow
against Sauron’s forces in new 3 and 6-player instances. Call upon your
fellows to adventure into the most deadly 12-player raid yet and face the
ultimate challenge – the Nazgûl Lord!

Major Gameplay Enhancements – Turbine continues to improve the
award-winning experience of LOTRO with major improvements to the combat and
Legendary Items systems. Players will experience improved responsiveness
when in the heat of battle. Players will also be able to create and craft
their own customized Second and Third Age Legendary Items from raw materials
and grow their weapons’ power to level 60. Achieve new Legacies, new titles,
and a fourth Runic slot that will make Legendary Items even more unique and
powerful.

As much as I realize it's not a fair complaint about a LotR game, my biggest problem with it is that it's so...LotR. There's so little personality to anything and the classes and characters are so bland it's painful.

I definitely disagree with you on that point. While it's not a vivid as WoW (which in my opinion has lost it's shine and has been overdone), LotRO just oozes atmosphere but in a very understated way. It's the closest to keeping true to Tolkien's works in an MMO.

Yeah, I gave the trial a shot and it was just sort of meh. Not good, not bad, but meh. Guess I'm not enough of a Tolkein nut to get into it. I never really saw how LOTR lent itself to a MOG anyway compared to something like the Forgotten Realms.

"During times of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

As much as I realize it's not a fair complaint about a LotR game, my biggest problem with it is that it's so...LotR. There's so little personality to anything and the classes and characters are so bland it's painful.

Lol the games content hasn't been mostly bears and wolves for a long time now man. Hell once you get into your 20's you don't ever have to kill an animal again. Turbine did a great job of adding 'more LotR' style content.

If they can revamp the combat so it isn't slow as hell and boring as shit, I will absolutely be back in LotRO. I loved that game, I just couldn't get over how absolutely boring the combat was, on even the most combat focused classes.